


Human

by ravenclawkohai



Series: Aromanticism [1]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 20:33:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6625186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenclawkohai/pseuds/ravenclawkohai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Both Cloud and Sephiroth are aromantic, only, Sephiroth has never heard of the concept.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Human

Zack barging into his office in the middle of the day was nothing new.  
Zack barging into his office in the middle of the day with Cloud in tow was nothing new either.  
Zack barging into his office in the middle of the day with a completely confused looking Cloud was, however, something new.  
“Sooner or later you’ll learn how to knock,” Sephiroth said, returning to his paperwork.  
“Nah,” Zack said, closing and locking the door behind himself (another new addition). “You like it better this way, it gives your life some excitement.”  
“My life has enough excitement without your sudden interruptions and manhandling cadets into my chair.”  
Cloud smiled nervously from the chair Zack had dropped him into.  
Sephiroth offered a small smile in return; he didn’t want Cloud to misunderstand and think that he was angry with him, and that tended to happen if he didn’t show him otherwise as obviously as possible.  
“If that smile of yours is anything to go by, it sounds like you could use a break anyway,” Zack said, flopping into the chair next to Cloud’s.  
Sephiroth sighed, admitting defeat for the time being as he set his pen down neatly at the top of the page he was working on. Zack always got out of his office quicker when given his full attention, and besides, he was overdue for some sort of break.  
“Please tell me you came here with something specific to tell me,” he said.  
“I’ve got nothing, but Cloud does,” Zack answered, crossing his heels.  
“Cloud?” Sephiroth asked, looking toward the cadet.  
Cloud shifted awkwardly in his seat, straightening himself up and coughing slightly.  
“I, uh, don’t really know what I’m supposed to be telling you. Zack just hauled me here in the middle of a conversation.”  
“Tell him what you last told me, Spike.”  
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.  
“Is that what this is about?” Cloud asked, and when Zack bobbed his head, he sighed and turned back to face Sephiroth. “I’m aromantic.”  
“… And what does your being romantic have to do with me?” Sephiroth said, voice slightly on edge; he had had slews of admirers, and though he knew Cloud had a bad case of hero worship when they first met, he would hate to crush his hopes if it extended beyond that.  
“What—oh! No, all one word, aromantic like asexual, not like one romantic,” Cloud specified, turning slightly pink in the ears either from the misunderstanding or prolonged conversation about what seemed to be a personal matter.  
“I’m unfamiliar with the word,” Sephiroth said, folding his hands on top of his desk and leaning forward.  
“Maybe it is a Nibelheim thing then; Zack hadn’t heard of it either. It just means that I don’t experience romantic love or attraction. Never have, never will,” Cloud explained, and as he spoke, Sephiroth’s eyes widened just enough to show the others in the room that the entire concept was unfamiliar to him.  
The conversation came to a halt as Sephiroth stared, no longer paying attention to those around him. Though he heard Zack distantly say, “See? I told you so,” to Cloud, he paid it no attention.  
Instead, he remembered. He remembered being a young, teenage SOLDIER fighting for rank just having been released from the labs, overhearing but not understanding the talk about girlfriends and boyfriends and hearts racing and butterflies in stomachs. He remembered daring to ask Angeal and Genesis about their relationship and the confusion, concern on their faces when he had asked them to explain what made their partnership different from friendship. He remembered quietly humoring Zack as he talked on and on about his sweetheart in the slums and his reassurances that he’d find someone someday, he just hadn’t met the right person yet, he’ll understand when he finds the right someone. He remembered turning a purposeful blind eye to the feeling of inhumanity, the fear that the labs had broken something within him, something that was at the core of the human experience; forcing himself to believe that one day, there would be someone for him too, he just had to be patient. He remembered not quite managing to believe and not quite managing to turn a blind eye and the feeling of shame and fear that kept him up at nights.  
But Cloud was nothing like that. Cloud was as warm—as human as he had ever met. He seemed to feel so much, doing nothing by half-measures, whether it was joy or embarrassment or anger.  
And if someone so alive didn’t experience romance any more than he did, then maybe it wasn’t impossible that he was human after all.  
When he refocused, it was to find Cloud and Zack both looking at him with concern. He straightened just slightly in his seat.  
“Thank you—both of you, for telling me,” Sephiroth said, voice quieter, softer than usual. “Truly, thank you.”


End file.
